Barrique

A barrique is a small oak wine barrel with a capacity of 225 liters, in which wine ferments or matures, absorbing aromas and tannins from the wood in the process.

A barrique is a small oak wine barrel with a capacity of 225 liters, in which wine ferments or matures, absorbing aromas and tannins from the wood in the process.

The word comes from French, and before that from Gascon, where barrica simply means barrel; the Duden dictionary recognizes it as either masculine or feminine (der or das Barrique) and lists an older meaning as a French liquid measure. It has remained a measure. When someone says "barrique" today, they refer to a specific size, wood, and effect, and all three can be tasted.

What is meant by barrique?

A barrel small enough for the wood to have a say. The German Wine Institute lists the sizes: barriques hold 225 liters, tonneaus 500, Stückfässer 1,200, Halbstückfässer 600, and Doppelstückfässer 2,400. In Germany, a wine may only be labeled as fermented, matured, or aged in a barrique if the barrel holds no more than 350 liters and if at least 75 percent of the wine was stored in it—for at least six months for red wine and four for all others. The specifications themselves come from EU law: fermented, matured, or aged in a barrique, or in a barrel with the type of wood specified. Anyone adding oak chips to their wine instead of placing it in a barrel may not use these terms.

The State Education and Research Institute for Viticulture and Pomology in Weinsberg explains why wine leaves the steel tank for this process in its guide to barrique aging: Slowly grown oaks have fine, tight pores through which the wine gradually receives oxygen, and this gentle airflow allows it to react with the extract substances of the wood. The wine becomes rounder and deeper, absorbing aromas that would never emerge in steel. For this reason, a strict rule applies in Weinsberg: only the best base wines with good internal qualities and complex aromas belong in a barrique. A weak wine cannot be elevated in a barrel, and a light one will be overwhelmed by wood aromas. The varietal character must remain recognizable; wood and wine must be in balance.

Is barrique always oak?

Usually, but not necessarily. The Duden defines a barrique as an oak wine barrel, and practice follows suit: apart from extremes, almost all woods could be used, the LVWO writes, but the best experiences have been with oak. The decisive factor is where the tree grew. Oaks from the Limousin stand on rich, damp soils and have a large-pored structure; woods from the Vosges and the forest of Tronçais are considered fine-pored, as is Swabian oak, and fine-pored wood produces more intense and delicate aromas. Other woods are permitted but must then be stated on the label, for example, aged in an acacia barrel.

That small barrels made of other woods can produce results is demonstrated by the Distilleria Marzadro in Trentino with its Grappa Diciotto Lune: it matures for 18 months in small barrels of cherry, ash, oak, and locust (robinia), with each wood adding scent, aroma, and color in its own way until the grappa is amber-colored. The Trentina Morbida Barrique, a grappa made from the pomace of Moscato, Chardonnay, and Gewürztraminer, then rests in these used barrels for a few months, becoming even softer.

What is the difference between a barrique and a wooden barrel?

The size, and with it the ratio of wood to wine. A 1,200-liter Stückfass offers much less wood surface area per liter of wine than a 225-liter barrique; therefore, a wine in a large barrel remains more true to itself, receiving primarily rest and a little air. This is how the Cantina Kurtatsch ages its Lagrein, the oldest grape variety in South Tyrol: in large oak barrels. In a barrique, by contrast, the wood is a spice, and the cellar master determines the dosage via the age of the barrel. A fresh barrel imparts the most, a repeatedly used one less and less, until it almost only allows air to pass through.

How much wood a wine can handle was tested by two brothers in the Palatinate when this was still being smiled upon in Germany. Werner and Volker Knipser took over the Johannishof in Laumersheim in the eighties, planted French grape varieties, and are, as Eichelmann writes, among the pioneers of barrique aging in Germany. Their Cuvée X, made from Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot, matures for 24 months in French barriques. That is one school of thought: powerful red wines that can handle the wood. The other is Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir), where the wood may only accompany the wine, because otherwise the variety disappears.

How does barrique wine taste?

Like what the fire brought out of the wood. Before a barrel is a barrel, the staves are bent over fire and steam, and then the barrel body is toasted, or scorched. This thermally decomposes the wood components cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin; lignin produces vanillin and syringaldehyde, among other things, and harsh tannins are broken down. One distinguishes between light, medium, and heavy toast. With a medium toast, the temperature on the inner surface is 200 °C, the wood is clearly browned and altered up to 2 centimeters deep. Too heavy a toast brings coffee and roasted aromas and bitter, astringent tannins; too light leaves green, vegetal aromas in the wine.

This explains what is in the glass. If a barrique wine smells of vanilla, it is not an additive, but the lignin of the wood. Smoke, toast, and caramel come from the burning process, the softer, broader nature from the oxygen that entered through the pores, and some of the tannins from the barrel itself. The litmus test is the sequence: a well-made barrique wine tastes of fruit and varietal character first, with the wood coming in behind as a seasoning. If it only smells of a sawmill and vanilla sugar, the barrel was too heavily toasted or the wine was too light. At the table, this means: a barrique red wine needs food with substance—Sunday pot roast, a grilled steak, mountain cheese; and the grappa from the small barrel comes after, once the espresso is ready.